Jowls, Juggernaut, and Rescue!

Let's face it, AGING; it's inevitable. It affects EVERYONE. The good news is, in aging, we gain maturity, wonderful memories, and treasured experiences. However, the bad news is that aging often times takes its first swing at our face and skin. Every single decade activates a new challenge. This 6th decade has cursed me with the onset of JOWLS! Even the word sounds bad, grumpy and unpleasant. Fortunately, for each decade's problem, a solution or technology comes to the rescue. Let's talk about my jowls and how ThermiSmooth has come to the rescue. 

• Jowls: Sagging skin that forms along your jaw line caused by loss of facial volume (aging). Even the dictionary makes jowls sound terrible. "She's become increasingly jowly as she's gotten older," "a bloodhound with heavy jowls," "loose folds of skin and flesh on the lower parts of the face."
• Juggernaut: Any large or overpowering destructive force (aging) (jowls)
• Rescue: To help someone or something out of a dangerous, harmful or unpleasant situation. 

Those darn jowls come about because our bodies begin to stop producing collagen and elastin. This starts and continues every decade beginning in our 20s. Genetics, as well as time, gravity, lifestyle and skin care, will determine when the loss of volume, sagging, wrinkles and dryness will visible attack. I hung in there until my late 50s before my jowls started drooping. I consider myself very lucky - great genetics and a round face. Also, a good portion of that luck comes from a great medical grade skin care routine that I started decades ago, as well as investing in resurfacing and treatment procedures (HALO, chemical peels, facials) to renew and revitalize my skin. But - the JOWLS dropped in!

So, I took a look at my options:

• Do Nothing. No way! Especially after learning more about the definition of jowls. 
• Plastic Surgery. Not quite jowly enough, too expensive and too much downtime and risk. 
• Skin Tightening. Yes! But I wanted a NO PREP, NO PAIN and NO DOWNTIME treatment that had proven results. 

Artisan Skin and Laser Center came up with the answer for me. It's called ThermiSmooth, and it is remarkable! ThermiSmooth is a tightening technology driven by the science of heat via radio frequency. The area treated starts the collagen remodeling and regeneration process. My biggest conern was my jowls, so that's where I started. But you can also do eyes, neck, arms, etc.

We started with a consultation on my area of concern and visited about realistic outcomes and pricing. Then we took pictures to capture my baseline jowls so they could measure future results after completing my series of 4 treatments. These were scheduled 1-3 weeks apart. The beauty of this treatmens is that you can do it anytime. There is no prep, no pain and no downtime, period.

When I arrived for treatment, they had me lie down, cleansed my jowls and started the treatment. Each side takes close to 20 minutes, so I allowed an hour total appointment time. It was relaxing! The wand delivering the radiofrequency feels like a hot stone massage on my face - really very soothing! You can choose your music, visit with the provider or just meditate - I didn't want it to end! When you are finished, you are free to apply make-up and, of course, sunscreen and then you are on your way.